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Monday, June 30, 2014

A guest post + My writing process blog tour.

Hallo meine Lieben,I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. Today is another important World Cup game and I am crossing my fingers for Germany. My wonderful friend Sara from C'est moi, Sara Louise asked me to write a guest post on her blog and of course I said yes! I feel so honored! Sara is such a fantastic friend and I read her blog for a long time and love every single post. So thanks again for asking me, Sara! It means a lot!

First of all, I can't even put into words how honored I feel and how much it means to me that the wonderful Rika from vegan miam nominated me to a part of the My writing process blog tour (which is a way to get bloggers to get to know each other and to discover new fabulous blogs). The blog tour is also a way to share some more of the background of your blog, why you write what you write and what it means to you. After being nominated by another blogger you answer the four questions below. Then it is your turn to nominate three other bloggers - bloggers you know and love and want everybody else to get to know as well. Rika said so many wonderful things about me in her post. It really really touched my heart. Rika, thank you so much! It means so much to me! You even made me tear up a bit. Rika's blog is one of my favorites....I read every single post of her and I adore everything about her....She shares the most wonderful recipes and always makes me hungry. She also inspires me to eat things that I have never eaten before. I love to read about her travels and adventures. The pictures she shares are always brilliant and make me want to travel to new places and to cook, cook, cook. She is such an inspiration...not just because she definitely is one of my vegan role models but also because she is such a smart, beautiful, caring and fantastic person. Her comments on my blog always make me smile. Plus, we have so much in common. Not just that we are both vegan...we also share the love for shoes and Scandinavian crime novels. Oh, and we both love salt & vinegar chips. And everybody who loves those is a brilliant person. You all need to follow her blog vegan miam and you can also find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Instagram. So if you do not know her yet, go over and say hello. You will become very hungry and will get to know one of my favorite people in blogland! The questions.

1. WHAT AM I WORKING ON?

On my blog, I try to cover all the topics I am interested in. Which means: animal rights, veganism, books, my German-American life, traveling, food, movies and all the other things in life I do or like. I do feel like that I want my blog to improve. I talked about this before, I don't have enough time to work on all the things I want to. I started writing a novel a while ago and I feel like my day needs more than 24 hours to get all the stuff done. There are so many things in my life that I want to write about, things that are important to me. I have so many interests and obviously I want to pursue all of them and I want you guys to be a part of it.

2. HOW DOES MY WORK DIFFER FROM OTHERS OF ITS GENRE?

Well, all our lives are unique so I guess there are not a whole lot of Germans married to an American who are vegan, have two bunnies and two cats as pets, like to do all kinds of crafty things, are book worms and care a lot about animal rights. I love to get to know the people behind the blogs because we all have interesting stories to tell and I think that is what makes blogging so interesting for me. I have made so many wonderful friends because of my blog and I can't even tell you what that means to me.

3. WHY DO I WRITE WHAT I DO?

I am very passionate when it comes to the things I care about which is why I want to share them with others as well. For example, animals play a very important role in my life. Not just my pets but all animals in general. I want to protect them. So many terrible things are happening in the world, especially in the meat industry and so on. And I want people to be aware of these things and to consider them. Another example: I love to read. Always have and always will. I have hundreds of books and read every single day. I want to share this love with others. Because I always feel like that the things that make me happy might make others happy as well. And I am clearly happy when I can talk about Scandinavian crime novels.

4. HOW DOES YOUR WRITING PROCESS WORK?

I would not say that there is an order or a special procedure. Not at all. When I have an idea then I write it down in my notebook and then come back to it at some point. If I don't write it down immediately then I forget about it again. Which is why I always try to carry a notebook with me - let's say that does not always work. So I often have lots of lose papers in my purse or on my desk where I write things down. I get inspired by everything I read, the people around me and just the world in general. There are so many interesting things I want to write about. And when I see something interesting, then I take a picture and share it later. Sometimes that means a couple of weeks or months later. I just always make sure that I write everything down which comes into my mind...I really don't want to forget any important thought.

Martha is such a sweet person and I can't even tell you how happy I am that I have met her because of my blog (honestly, I am so thankful for all the wonderful friendships, I never thought this could be possible! So thank you to all of you for being such fantastic friends, it means so much to me!). I do not have any vegan friends in real life (can you believe that?) so I am more than thankful that I can talk to her about all things vegan. And she always makes me smile by sending me cute animal pictures. I told you, she really is a sweetheart. It is so much fun to read her blog because it is the perfect mixture of all things cruelty free, vegan recipes, fashion, stories of her life, books, cats and smart thoughts. I feel like we have so many things in common and we would make great friends in real life as well. I mean, come on, she is a vegan cat lover who reads tons of books and loves tea.

Another wonderful friend of mine. She is such a fascinating person and I admire her minimalist style and sense of fashion. Her blog is a mixture of very intelligent thoughts, fashion, books, human rights, travel stories and so much more. You can't even put it into words, you have to see it yourself. I am always so excited when she talks about the adventures of her life. She has been to so many places and has so many stories to tell. I can't say this enough: I am so thankful that I have made such a wonderful friend. I feel like we have a lot in common: she is a huge animal lover, loves to read a lot and to drink tea. I also love about her that she knows so many fascinating things about science, she is studying for a degree in Natural Science so she is the perfect source for all kinds of wisdom. I am really proud to be able to call her my friend.

My friend Lissa is one of the most creative and talented people I have ever met. On her blog she shares the stories she writes and her drawings and photography and also bits and pieces of her life in New York City. You need to check this out for yourself but her stories always touch my heart...I can't describe it but the way she writes is just absolutely brilliant, you feel with her characters. She is such an incredible talented artist and you can find her work in her store the rain girl. I am a huge fan of all the beautiful rain pictures she takes. She is not just incredible talented but also a wonderful and kind person and a really lovely friend. So if you want to feel inspired and meet a truly brilliant person, you have to check out her blog if you have not already. Thank you guys for being such wonderful friends and loyal readers, I can't even tell you what it means to me. Have a great week.

Fingers crossed for Germany as well (though Holland comes first for me, Germany is my other favourite).

I love reading this post, as I'm always curious about how other people figure out their blogging writing and schedules. So interesting that you're writing a novel, I look forward to reading it someday, even if it is in German. I should really do like you and start putting all the ideas in my head down to paper :)

I do like the Dutch team as well but of course Germany comes first. :) Excited for the game later. But also nervous. :)

I am glad you liked the post, Irene! Hopefully I will be able to finish that novel at some point in my life, I have lots of ideas but I am not making a huge progress. For me it works fine to write all my ideas down, otherwise I forget them all the time!

your answer to number 4 is so much like me. I actually use to write on the back of receipts when I don't have anything else to write on. I also carry a notebook with me at all times since I am quite forgetful. I still have a whole bunch of paper and notebooks with writings that I have not type up.

oh, you're so sweet with your little note about me! thank you so much.

Hehe, glad we have that in common! I always think that everybody else is much more organized and does not use loose notes like receipts etc to write on. I do that all the time when I don't have anything else.

You are so sweet, Lissa! Thanks for being such a wonderful friend!Have a great rest of the week!

Sorry for the delay - the last week has been crazy! Thank you very much for your kind, beautiful and supportive words, I can see the kindness, warm and compassion in you; you truly are such a sweet lady with an amazing heart for animals and everything else! First I want to start out by telling you from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU for participating in a blog tour. I greatly appreciate you and your unique blog. I hope one day we can exchange some awesome crime novels! Speaking of novel, I would love to read it one day!

Hey Rika, I am sorry your week has been so crazy! I hope you found some time to relax over the weekend! Thank you so much for your wonderful words, they are really touching and mean a lot! Thank you again for nominating me, you truly are a wonderful person! I would love to exchange crime novels with you someday. :) If I ever finish my novel, you will be ones of the first people to read it. :)